Therapeutic Medical Physicist

Veterans Health Administration • Northport, NY

13d • Onsite

About The Position

The Therapeutic Medical Physicist is located in the Radiation Oncology service at the Northport VA Medical Center. Medical Physics is a branch of physics that is associated with the practice of medicine. The practice of Medical Physics means the use of principles and accepted protocols of physics to assure the correct quality, quantity, and placement of radiation during the performance of a radiological procedure.

Requirements

• Must be a U.S. Citizen.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
• Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements.
• Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.
• As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest.
• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• Master's degree or higher in a physics, science, or engineering discipline recognized by an accredited college or university with at least 30 semester hours in medical physics, health physics, radiological science, physics, engineering, chemistry, or biology; or an equivalent foreign degree and coursework substantiated by the National Association of Credential Evaluation Services.
• Board Certification. Persons hired or reassigned to TMP positions in the VHA must be board certified in the field of therapeutic medical physics by an approved certifying body. The board certificate must be current and the applicant must abide by the certifying body's requirements for continuing education.
• Approved Certifying Bodies (a) The American Board of Radiology (ABR) in any of the following field titles:1. Therapeutic Medical Physics2. Therapeutic Radiologic or Therapeutic Radiological Physics3. Radiologic Physics or Radiological Physics(b) The American Board of Medical Physics (ABMP) in the subfield of Radiation Oncology Physics.(c) The Canadian College of Physicists in Medicine (CCPM) in the subfield of Radiation Oncology Physics.
• May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria).
• Completion of a minimum of 1 year of progressively complex experience equivalent to the next lower grade.
• Advanced expertise and experience in the safe and efficient use of all radiotherapy devices for external beam radiotherapy and brachytherapy.
• Highly developed expertise with commissioning linear accelerators and treatment planning systems for complex clinical use, to include project management, performance testing, data acquisition, beam modeling, and validation testing.
• Advanced knowledge (treatment simulation, planning, dosimetry, and treatment methods) of the scientific, clinical, and technical applications of one or more specialized procedures including, but not limited to, high dose rate brachytherapy, low dose rate brachytherapy, stereotactic body radiation therapy, stereotactic radiation therapy, intensity modulated radiation therapy, volumetric modulated arc therapy, total body irradiation, advanced image-guided therapy, and adaptive therapy.
• Advanced expertise in acceptance testing, clinical commissioning, and (when applicable) calibration procedures for a variety of ancillary radiation oncology delivery, imaging, dosimetry, metrology, and computational systems.
• Employees at this level who are not supervisors are able to carry out assigned tasks independently in all areas of radiation therapy requiring TMP competencies which substantially exceed the full performance level and require advanced knowledge in all areas of radiation therapy.
• Work is sedentary but also demands standing, walking, bending, twisting, and carrying light to medium heavy items and QA equipment such as Map Check/ Arc Check , Water Phantoms, Solid Water, Electron cones. These devices range from 10-40 lbs. and sometimes need to be lifted overhead and into the treatment machine.

Responsibilities

• Manages the development and implementation of advanced techniques and special initiatives in radiotherapy, collaborates with radiation oncologists in the development of new clinical protocols, and directs special projects involving clinical applications, clinical research, or quality assurance.
• Serves as the subject matter expert on certain aspects of therapeutic medical psychics in which the incumbent has achieved national recognition through research and peer-reviewed publications.
• Plans, delivers, verifies, and monitors quality assurance of radiotherapy at all levels of complexity.
• Recommends an optimal modality and treatment technique for the patient; evaluating the quality, safety, and accuracy of radiation treatments planned and delivered to patients, thus ensuring that radiation does is carried out correctly and completely; and safely operating all radiation planning and delivery devices.
• Implements radiation therapy of outstanding technical difficulty and responsibility, as exemplified by their role in providing knowledge-based solutions to resolving issues where no rule based solutions exist.
• Plans and directs a specialized program encompassing all physics and clinical aspects of external beam and brachytherapy procedures from treatment simulation to treatment planning to the actual treatment delivery.
• Provides technical oversight for the work of developmental TMPs, medical dosimetrists and radiation therapists.
• Oversees radiation therapy treatment planning; designs and approves treatment plans; monitors the accuracy of treatment data recorded in the patient's medial records; provides consultation to the radiation oncologist regarding difficult treatment cases; performs patient specific treatment validation measurements; and develops medical physics policies and procedures for the delivery and quality assessment of advanced treatment modalities such as intensity modulated radiation therapy, stereotactic body radiation therapy and brachytherapy.
• Develops, operates and fully documents the medical physics quality assurance program and ensures regulatory compliance within the Radiation Safety Officer's radiation safety program.
• Safely utilizes and properly operates all radiation oncology equipment, and is therefore qualified and responsible for educating radiation oncology team members including radiation oncologists, radiation therapists and dosimetrists in safety issues that relate to radiotherapy planning and delivery.
• Knowledgeable user and subject matter expert in the use of Varian Eclipse treatment planning system, Varian TrueBeam delivery system, and QA equipment and software in Sun Nuclear and PTW.
• The advanced performance level TMP will also be an expert in the following special procedures: Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy for prostate, brain, spine, lung and other parts of the body.
• Other duties as assigned.

Benefits

• A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package.
• As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding.
• Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior